Menu Planning Board
Making Gluten & Dairy Free Menu Planning A Cinch!
Now that school is back in session, it is important to have an efficient system for planning gluten & dairy free meals!
For a few weeks I have been seeing posts which discuss how to make a menu planning board. I was directed to this post here, and as a crafter and lover of organization, I fell so head over heels in LOVE with the idea that I just had to make one!
Before, my husband and I used a dry erase board calendar. We would place the weekly meals on it and we did this for a couple of years. The problem that we found with this method, however, was that we still needed to pour over our cookbooks and collections of recipes to decide what we want to eat. I know you are probably thinking "What is the big deal?" Well, sometimes it can be very difficult for us to decide what to eat. We are blessed enough to live in a society where we have plenty of good foods to choose from, but sometimes choices can get overwhelming in a household where one person eats dairy and gluten and the other person does not.
What makes the menu planning board so cool is that you have cards that are labeled with all of the things that you and your family eat most often. On the back are the items that you need to make a particular recipe so that you can make your list with more ease. I also included where to locate the recipes (certain cookbooks with page numbers, or in certain binders etc). I used someone else's template which helped lots. I also did not write every single ingredient. I did make sure to create cards that say "New Recipe" and "Leftovers" to help plan the week more easily
To make this, I used a frame and scrapbook paper that I already had. I used jello boxes for the card holders and covered them with scrapbooking paper. I followed this tutorial and I was all done!
It may seem like a bit of extra work, but trust me, it was well worth the 45 minutes that it took to make the board, and type up the cards. I was surprised by the enthusiasm that my husband displayed regarding this. He helped me come up with the items for the cards and now walks on over to the board and picks some of the things that he wants to eat throughout the week. Since ideas are right there, it makes menu planning WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY easier. It is also a cute addition to the kitchen. I hung this with command strips and have not had any problems. I hope this helps and let me know what you think. I would love to hear how you and your family plan your meals.
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